Stents have been used for many years to treat vessel disorders by allowing flow and/or preventing vessel narrowing. Narrowing vessels disrupt blood flow and can create pressure imbalances in the vasculature. Such conditions can eventually lead to serious cardiovascular compromise and/or death. For many years the definitive treatment for such disorders was the surgical repair or replacement of the vessel segment through open heart surgery, but such surgeries are dangerous and prone to complication. Open heart surgery in neonatal and young patients may lead to negative developmental effects.
Stents have also been utilized for holding vessels open, but the growth of the patient prevents stents from being implanted at early development states as they would not be able to grow to the adult sizes. Typically, stents have specific, limited ranges of operation.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for an improved stent for implantation in young patients and subsequent expansion as the patients grow that overcomes the aforementioned obstacles and deficiencies of currently-available stents.
It should be noted that the figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions may be generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. It also should be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the preferred embodiments. The figures do not illustrate every aspect of the described embodiments and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.